China's been building artificial islands in the South China Sea over the last decade to expand its control in the area. Satellite images show its growth.

She renewed a warning that the U.S. is obligated to defend the Philippines under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if Philippine forces come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines traded accusations on Thursday following a confrontation between two of their vessels in contested waters of the South China Sea, the latest incident in a long-running ...

Southeast Asian maritime states’ dangerous exposure to rising temperatures and sea levels as well as growing energy demands over the next 10 years could accelerate China’s route to dominance.

China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea have flared tensions in the region for years. It has built up a large military presence in the Spratlys, setting up a military base on ...

The South China Sea remains a volatile flashpoint, with China’s aggression reaching alarming new heights. In February 2025, a Philippine BFAR aircraft patrolling near Scarborough Shoal was ...

China and the Philippines have each unfurled their national flags on tiny sandbars in the South China Sea, staking competing sovereignty claims in strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint ...

Satellite imagery shows China landed two of its most advanced bombers in the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea this month - a gesture that some analysts described as Beijing's latest ...

In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal in The Hague dismissed China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea. Beijing maintains that the decision is invalid. What People Are Saying ...

The South China Sea, a conduit for about $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, remains a source of tension between China and U.S. ally the Philippines, with ties at their worst in years amid ...

A buoy in the Yellow Sea that China says is for meteorological observation.© South Korean Navy The Chinese multistory oil rig in the Yellow Sea, complete with lifeboats and a helipad.© CSIS ...

Tensions flared this week between China and Japan after Tokyo detected a new Chinese structure in an energy-rich area of the East China Sea. "China's oil and gas exploration activities in the East ...